


More than the Backs of Great Men

by A_Writing_Pen



Category: Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Gen, Ruroken Week, Ruroken Week: Day 1, Ruroken week: Lesson, ruroken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 20:47:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1792696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Writing_Pen/pseuds/A_Writing_Pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Yahiko Myojin focused on the backs of great men, it was the women surrounding him that deserved more notice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More than the Backs of Great Men

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Backs of Great Men](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/55657) by Bonsoir. 



> Day 1 | June 15: Lesson or Technique
> 
> Note: This piece was inspired by “The Backs of Great Men” by Bonsoir

While Yahiko Myojin focused on the backs of great men, it was the women surrounding him that deserved more notice. Kaoru Kamiya was one of these women. At the moment, she was in the training hall while Yahiko was waxing the floors. Normally he dreaded this chore the most; his back always felt sore afterwards and it was a futile effort because the floors would always end up dirty again anyways. But it was the first time he had done his chores since Jinchuu.

He had kept up with his training, but the days between the battle at the dojo and the rescue from Enishi’s island were filled too much with grieving, recovering, and searching for answers to keep up with the dojo’s maintenance. And his disappointment at seeing Kenshin in the fallen village made it too difficult to stay in the broken home for long.

“Ow.” He said, stubbing his toe. Another reason why he hated waxing the floors, they became slippery if he wasn’t careful. But instead of barking at his carelessness, Kaoru continued her practice swings.

Ten days since she left the island and already she was practicing again as if she had never left home. Cradling his foot, he realized he had never asked her what had happened while she was missing. He knew the basics of the story that she had told everyone; that she woke up in Enishi’s hideout without knowing how she got there, probably drugged at the dojo, and that despite being held captive, she was fairly free to go about as she wished. She had been planning her own escape attempt when everyone arrived on the island, and the rest they saw.

Leave it to Kaoru to not villainies the man everyone wanted to kill, to, while seeing a softer side of the man who could have killed her, still planned her escape methodically even before anyone knew she was still alive. Leave it to Kaoru to go right back to training in the same hall where her fake body was found pinned to wall with an X carved into the cheek.

And then he thought about what that might mean. While he admired Kenshin’s strength as a fighter, Kaoru also presented a strength of her own. She was a teacher, taking over his mentorship in swordsmanship. But she was also a student of the same sword style, probably having to complete her own mastery on her own with her father’s death. What ghosts did she train among while the rest of them were haunted by the memory of a puppet?

If she had a breakdown like Kenshin’s after her father’s death, she was alone. There was no one to tell her to get back, to take care of her until she decided to stand. But even alone, at some point she must have stood back up and begin training alone in that same hall.

From Kaoru he learned creating a home is more strength than what any sword style alone could offer.

II – Megumi

Megumi always packed up her medical box methodically and quietly. Every pill, bottle, ointment, and needle that wasn’t used up in the care of her patient was placed in the exact same spot where it was taken from. Even when Kenshin had nearly bled to death from his wounds after battling Shishio, when Sano was left unconscious on the dojo floor after Saitou first crept into their lived, she put away her things away one by one. It was a comforting constancy.

It wasn’t until he saw Megumi packing her away her box after treating Kenshin’s wounds from the island, that he realized the way she put her tools away was also skill. He had focused so much on watching Kenshin’s moves whenever he entered a battle, or paid special attention whenever Sanosuke told stories about his training with Anji, and even his own training, that he had never noticed her practice as a doctor was another form of mastery and training.

Opium woman. The fox. Doctor. She wore all these names with stride, because every day she healed someone she remade the meaning of her skill and training. Like swords, medicine could be used to kill or give life. And like the best of swordsman, Megumi knew the weight of both. The only difference was that she was able to heal the swordsman after the battle when swords were useless.

While the men Yahiko choose to follow broke, Megumi would put them back together again with that same box because not all masters were on the battlefield.

III – Tae

Thinking of Tae always brought up the Akabeko. If the dojo was a home, then the Akabeko was the start of his independence. The familiar smell and taste of beef pot were the signs of his reform from a life of crime. It was no convenience that Tae hired him. After all, his association with the Yakuza wasn’t exactly secret, and his transition into a pickpocket wasn’t an easy one, many of his early attempts resulting a beating after a mad run when his victim realized what was happening. His first few days serving in the restaurant brought up his past more often than he liked. Customers eyed him from their seats from time to time. Twice he saw a customer leave when he walked up to the table to take their order.

On occasion he saw one of his earliest targets. The man was large and bulky; even sitting in the booth the man spilled over his seat. The man wore a western style hat with the rest of his traditionally Japanese wardrobe. That was what had made him a target in the first place. While western fashions had grown increasingly more popular, the Yakuza had taught him that they were a sign of affluence, and when Yahiko first saw the man he was already behind on the quota the Yakuza had set for him. Yahiko watched the man for a while. Despite his size, the man was clumsy as if he wasn’t sure how to maneuver his own bulk. In the market place he bumped into other people, seemingly unaware of what was surroundings. For Yahiko it was too easy.

Just as the Yakuza had taught him, Yahiko followed closely but far enough away to not be noticed. It wasn’t long before the man stopped at a street vendor and started haggling over the price of fish. The theft was swift, just as he had been taught. Seeing his chance, Yahiko moved in to and quickly tried to grab the man’s wallet. In his haste, he didn’t take into account the street vendor who recognized Yahiko from an earlier incident. Before he could get away, the vendor shouted at him and the man began chasing Yahiko through the streets. But the clumsiness Yahiko had noticed earlier struck again and the man tumbled into someone and fell to the ground. With one last look back Yahiko could see that the man with a bloodied face, caused by the man colliding into the bucket of the person he toward into.

In the restaurant Yahiko could see that the man’s noise was crooked from the break. But when the man saw Yahiko, he didn’t react the way he expected. Unlike the earlier customers he didn’t get angry or suddenly leave. The man studied Yahiko’s face closely, even after Yahiko asked for a second time what he would like to order. A pit grew in Yahiko’s stomach.

“I want to talk to the owner” he said.

The man had yet to order any food, but that did not seem to concern him. After Yahiko told Tae about the man’s request, she went to the man’s booth. They spoke for a short time but Yahiko couldn’t tell what the conversation was. Tae seemed calm and social as she usually was. Then Tae waved Yahiko over.

“I can assure that he is no pickpocket. I will stake my restaurant’s reputation on that.”

While Kenshin may have pulled him away from the Yakuza, Tae was the first one to ever offer him a chance that he was accountable for.

IV – Misao

The weasel girl was nothing like what he expected a ninja to be. She was loud, hyperactive, and looked much younger than her 16 years. As she bounced around the dojo halls, bored of staying still, and asking “where was Aoshi-sama?” he was reminded of his and the oniwaban’s surprise when she named herself Okashira.

But if she hadn’t been young and brash, Yahiko wouldn’t have his “family.” Actually, there may not still be a nation. After all, After all, if she had never gone searching for Aoshi then she never would have found Kenshin, reconnected him Kaoru, protected Kyoto, and saved Aoshi. If none of these events had taken place, then Shishio would never have been defeated putting the nation in danger, and his family would never have come back together. All because young girl was willing to fulfil her heart’s longing.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, she was like him. After losing her family, she grew up with her adopted family that happened to be the oniwaban. She was young and brash, which made adults sometime doubt or worry for her, and she still had so much to learn, but her youth didn’t undermine her but was a part of her.

The weasel girl was energetic by nature, but it didn’t make her weak. Misao taught him that love isn’t weakness, and that wisdom is not from age.

V – Tsubame

Tsubame taught him the lesson that was the most profound, because it took him so long to understand it. The first time they had met, she was a person in need. It was the first time he was able to implement Kenshin and Kaoru’s teachings of protecting weak and using the sword to protect life. But hadn’t understood what he actually was protecting. When he defended Tsubame he thought of her as a girl in need of protecting because she couldn’t protect herself. But he had never thought that those in need of protection would eventually protect others.

Tsubame, the soft spoken girl who blushed at the slightest attention, knew what it meant to be one of the weak masses who couldn’t defend themselves against the inevitable abuses of the era. Because she knew this, it was all the more remarkable that she would put herself in danger to save her former protector and other innocents. Walking alone along the final miles to Rakinamura, Tsubame knew that she was not a fighter. There was no protection between her and anyone who wanted to harm her. She had no guarantee that the risk she was taking would even pay off. But it was her only chance, so she went.

The broken gate announced her arrival. She could turn back and no one could know, but she walked in anyways. In the broken wood and garbage strewn apart, men who spawned out of the filth

“You should turn back”

But she didn’t.

“Please help Yahiko-Kun.”

Having walked all the way there despite the risk, all that she could do was beg to a broken man. She asked him again to stand up, then again, and again. But the man didn’t rise and the others who came from the filth took pity on her. She was helpless and the most of her power that she could muster was packed into those few efforts, like an infant’s cry for help.

But that cry was enough. The man stood, and the city, and Yahiko were saved. Unlike the strong who can rely on their own strength, for the weak the effort to ask for help takes everything, and often goes unanswered. But they still try, as Tsubame tried.

 Tsubame taught him not only to protect the weak, but why they should be.


End file.
